This invention relates to improvements in caps for hypodermic needles and in particular to a safety cap for preventing needlesticks during recapping.
Hypodermic needles, for example those used for injections or for taking blood samples, are usually equipped with a removable cap that protects and helps keep the needle sterile. The cap is usually replaceable to cover the used, contaminated needle and prevent accidental needlesticks. However, accidental needlesticks during recapping have long been a problem. Because of tension, time pressure, or fatigue, needlesticks during recapping occur with alarming frequency despite frequent warnings to be careful, and they account for the majority of accidental needlesticks. Eliminating recapping will not solve the problem because the uncapped needle is so dangerous. Indeed, a large number of accidental needlesticks are caused by uncapped needles found in beds, on floors, or in garbage cans. Even where there is a no recapping policy, the needles are often recapped because of these dangers.
Accidental needlesticks are serious because they can spread disease, including hepatitis, venereal diseases, and of most recent concern: AIDS. A needlestick causes fear and anxiety in the victim. Both the victim and the patient may be subjected to a battery of expensive, time consuming tests. Accidental needlesticks during recapping can cost even a relatively small health care institution thousands of dollars annually. Even worse than the economic cost, however, is the transmission of disease.
For example, the victim of a needlestick from a needle contaminated by an AIDS patient must be repetitively tested for several months after the accident. It is documented that after such a needlestick, the victim may test positive for exposure to the AIDS virus, even if the disease is not contracted. A positive test would cause great fear and anxiety in the victim, would seriously disrupt the victim's personal life, and might even end the victim's ability to work in health care.
Despite the very serious nature of the problem, and the severity of the consequences, the problem has persisted for many years without any satisfactory solution. Various sheaths that can be slid down over the needle after use have been patented, for example those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,120, U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,734, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,571,654. However, these devices were too complicated and too difficult and expensive to manufacture, and have never been widely available.
A recent article Sumner, "Needlecaps to Prevent Needlestick Injuries", INFECTION CONTROL (1985) Vol. 6, No. 12. p. 495, discusses the needlestick problem and discloses a needlecap with a small, wide angle funnel surrounding the cap opening. This funnel acts as both a guide and a shield. However, inventors have found this to be only a partial solution to the very serious problem at hand. No one before the inventors has recognized the importance of spacing the user's fingers from the opening in the cap. Thus, simply enlarging the cap opening as suggested in the article is no doubt helpful in reducing needlesticks, it does not recognize the importance of spacing the user's fingers from the dangerous area adjacent the cap opening, nor does it provide any structure for accomplishing this important function.
The inventors have developed a cap that reduces the possibility of needlesticks during recapping. Like the prior caps, the cap is a generally cylindrical, hollow tube closed at one end and open at the other end to receive the needle. However, unlike the prior caps, the inventors' cap has an outwardly facing funnel-shaped lip surrounding the open end to channel an errant needle into the opening and to protect the fingers gripping the cap, combined with means to space the fingers from the opening in the cap. This spacing means can be a plurality of radial splines extending between the exterior wall of the cap and the funnel-shaped lip to support the lip and to keep the user's fingers spaced from the cap opening. Alternatively, or additionally, a guard may project radially from the cap intermediate the ends of the cap. This guard serves as a secondary protection if the needle misses the funnel-shaped lip, and is positioned to keep the user's fingers spaced from the cap opening. This guard may be a flat disk or it may be a funnel-shaped structure, opening toward the opening in the cap, which will also be able to trap an errant needle.
The cap of this invention is thus of simple and inexpensive construction, but provides a large target for the needle and safely guides the needle into the cap while protecting the user's fingers and spacing the fingers away from the opening and out of danger. The cap is adaptable to any of the needle structures presently in use including disposable syringes, TUBEX (trademark) unit dose syringes, and double pointed sample needles. This invention thus reduces the problem of accidental needlesticks during recapping at an acceptable cost.